Globe and Mail

BRANDON, Man. — The Canadian Press Published on Friday, Jun. 11, 2010

Visual arts

Fit for a Queen, 40 years later

Painting to be given to monarch based on photo taken during 1970 visit to Manitoba

BRANDON, Man. — The Canadian PressPublished on Friday, Jun. 11, 2010 1:54PM EDT

An unusual painting of the Queen taking a stroll in rural Manitoba 40 years ago will be the province's gift to Her Majesty when she visits next month.

The painting by artist Bill Hobbs depicts the Queen after the day's ceremonies are over and before she boards the royal train at the station in La Broquerie in 1970.

The Queen was touring Manitoba as part of the province's centennial.

Someone snapped a photo and the tiny black-and-white picture would become the basis for a painting by Hobbs four decades later.

Hobbs, who is 83, is originally from England and is renowned for his depictions on canvas of steam engines and historic train stations.

The painting shows a relaxed Queen in a casual setting and has her in the far left-hand corner — not the typical front-and-centre pose she is usually seen in.

Winnipeggers Bruce and Florence MacLeod bought the old La Broquerie train station and found the photo when they were going through its archives. They liked it so much they commissioned Hobbs, who lives in Brandon, Man., to make a painting from it.

When Phyllis Fraser, the personal assistant to Manitoba Lt.-Gov. Philip Lee, saw the painting in an art gallery, she knew she'd found a gift fit for a Queen.

“I was blown over,” said Hobbs about getting the phone call telling him his picture would be Manitoba's official gift. “I mean, there are millions of ... artists around ... and they chose my painting. I'm just lucky I painted the right picture.”

The artwork is wonderful for a number of reasons, said Lyn Chercoe, co-proprietor of the Birchwood Art Gallery where the painting was hanging.

Hobbs is a skilled artist and has managed to depicted the excitement and colour of the day, despite the fact it was rainy. But it's the behind-the-scenes feel that is most compelling, she said.

“It's very homey. There's no posing. When you think of the Queen, we don't think of casual.”

Hobbs said a person familiar with the Queen's visit to La Broquerie told him he got everything right except the colour of the roses in her bouquet — they were white, not yellow.

“I couldn't paint them white. There was too much white in the picture already. So I made them yellow.”

He said he would love to meet Her Majesty but has been told there's not enough time during her visit July 3, which will last little more than seven hours.